CARROT AND APPLE CAKE by Lorraine pascale

By á-165815

Ingredients

• spray oil
• 150 g (5oz) wholemeal flour
• 150 g (5oz) self-raising flour
• 150 g (5oz) carrots, peeled and roughly grated
• 125 g (41⁄2 oz) soft light brown sugar
• 175 ml (6fl oz) sunflower oil
• 2 apples, peeled, cored and roughly grated
• 3 medium eggs
• 1 medium egg white
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 18 pecan nuts
• CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
• 300 g (11oz) low-fat cream cheese
• 3 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tbsp crème fraîche

Preparation

Step 1

● Preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C), 350F, gas mark 4 and set the shelf in the middle. Grease two 20cm (8in) sandwich cake tins with a light spray of oil, line the bottoms with discs of baking parchment and set them on a baking sheet.
● Put all the cake ingredients (except the pecan nuts) into a large bowl and mix everything together until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the sponges feels springy to the touch and they are shrinking a little from the edges of the tins. Once the cakes
are baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins.
● Next, to make the frosting put the cream cheese, icing sugar, crème fraîche and vanilla seeds or extract into a medium bowl and mix together until smooth and well combined. Then cover and pop into the fridge to firm up a little while waiting for the cakes to cool.
● Once the cakes have cooled, carefully remove them from their tins. Sandwich the cakes together with half the frosting, then put the rest of the frosting on top. Arrange the pecans around the outer edge of the top frosting and serve.